


Blitz

by TricksterWithWings (orphan_account)



Category: Until Dawn (Video Game)
Genre: Borderline Personality Disorder, Climbing Class, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mental Health Issues, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Slow Burn, Wendigo Josh, exorJosh
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-30
Updated: 2015-11-01
Packaged: 2018-04-28 20:54:34
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5105423
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/TricksterWithWings
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Josh struggles to find a new sense of normality after the events on Blackwood Mountain.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Mountain

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [ExorJosh AU Comic](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/152870) by Danji-Doodle. 



> I was on the fence about writing this fic because I'm sure many people will be writing fic's inspired by Danji-Doodle's amazing Comic, but I couldn't get it out of my head so here it is.

Pain. It's been days since Josh could remember ever feeling anything else. Just constant pain, in his bones, under his skin. Even his teeth hurt. It's the only constant he's had since Hannah had carried him off and left him deep within the cave. 

Hannah. 

Josh had been terrified of her when he'd first recognized who the creatures was. Screaming for Mike to help him, for anyone to help him.

Don't let her take him. Don't let her hurt him. Please, he didn't want to die. It was just a joke, a mean dangerous prank. But he hadn't meant to hurt anyone, only scare them. He hadn't known  there were monsters on the mountain.

Hannah hadn't come back after dumping him in the cave and running- crawling off. In the days that had followed Josh wandered the caves alone. Alone, in pain and hungry. 

Hunger. 

Josh had succumbed to the hunger days ago. The only thing that bothered him more than the pain was the hunger. He was hungry all the time and nothing satisfied it.

Not Elk. Not Rabbit. Not even those humans that had wandered into his cave. They hadn't curbed the hunger at all; it was just another ache in a world full of them.

He stumbles. There is no one, nothing, here to teach him. How to ease the pain? How to stop the hunger? How to keep going, to keep pressing forwards when his knees, when his entire body is too weak to support him any longer? 

Somewhere in the back of his mind, there is hope. It's little, fragmented, damaged, hanging on by a single thread, this hope, this idea that maybe just maybe someone will come for him. He doesn't know where the idea; the hope comes from but he knows as the nights shift into day and back again; he knows it's dying. It's dying just like Josh is dying. Dying and something else is walking around in his skin.

He leaves his cave, just  like he does every night. He'll return to it when the sun rises just  like he does every sunrise, compelled for some reason to hide away from the light and sleep. Josh doubts the sunlight would actually hurt him but with how tired he gets he might just automatically drop into the snow as soon as it breaches the sky. 

He walks barefooted through the snow. He lost his shoes at some point a couple of days ago, he can't remember if it was outside or in the cave. He just knows he can feel the snow on his toes and yet he's not cold. His overalls had hindered his movements, he'd lost those too.

He freezes, head rolling fluidly from one side to the other, listening. He's heard something in the woods, something he hasn't heard before. Must be human. He can't see anything though, whatever's out there it knows not to move. It knows Josh won't be able to see it if it stays still. Josh growls.

Who'd be stupid enough to come into his woods at night? He'll find them eventually.

He crouches low and inches forward. Sniffs the air but it smells like it always does. Like woods. There's a flash of red in the corner of his vision and he darts off in its direction but it's gone as quick as he saw it. He growls again, leans in to sniff at the spot the red had just been. Nothing. Just woods.

There's this voice in the back of his mind. 'Go back to the cave.' It's insistent, frantic, panicked. 'Get back to the cave now'

But there is someone in his woods and he wants to know who, wants to know if they'll taste good, will they ease his hunger? 

Josh chirps. It's a high pitched sound that even now feels strange as it rolls out of his throat. He hasn't quite gotten the whole mimicking sounds thing down just yet, his vocal cords haven't changed enough for it yet. 

He's stayed in one spot for too long. He goes to move when something hits him in the thigh. Its sharp and large, manages to pierce his tough wendigo skin. Josh shrieks.

He takes off but in seconds he's stumbling like a baby deer, his legs won't stay under him and his arms can't hold his weight any longer. He falls face first into a snowbank, snarling and growling at whatever it is that has struck him. 

Whatever it was it's stolen almost all of Josh's strength. Warm hands touch him and it takes his remaining strength to lash out. He knows he's hit something when he smells the tinge of blood in the air.

"Shit" A voice curses and Josh barely remembers what the sound means just that he can't say that in front of mom or dad, but even that information is confusing for him. 

"Secure his arms" Another pair of hands are on him but this time he doesn't have the energy to lash out at them. He chirps again this time it's a distressed noise that he repeats over and over as his arms are forced behind him. The hands bind his wrists together with something that feels like rope. He tests its strength, and it holds firm. 

He's flipped over and his vision is filled with shapes of red. Someone grabs his face by the chin. 

His instincts tell him to bite this person before him. So he does. Or at least he tries to. Lunging forwards his teeth click together painfully as they close around nothing but air. A boot forces him back down onto his back.

"Is it him?" A voice asks. The shape before him shifts once more taking hold of his chin, turning Josh's face from side to side roughly. Josh growls weakly.

"He's pretty fuck up but theirs no mistaking him" A new voice says and Josh can only assume it's from the shape before him. "Tranqs are working"

"I don't care what he looks like The Washington’s are paying us a pretty penny to return their son to them. As long as he's breathing I don't care,"

They're hauling Josh up between them before he can stop them. His legs refuse to work and his arms, restrained behind him, have gone numb, his head lulls forward. 

Tranq. Tranquilizer. He didn't know the word but somehow he knew what it meant, understood suddenly why he was so weak, tired, lethargic. These shapes had drugged him. 

He gargles out a final growl before finally succumbing to the drugs.

 

* * *

 

The partial wendigo falls limp between the two men and the third, the one Josh managed to scratch, moves forward and grabs his feet. Together they lift the creatures dead weight and start shuffling towards the cable car.  

"It'd be nicer to everyone to just kill him," One of them grumbles. "Kill him and then keep everyone off  this gods forsaken mountain,"

"Shut your trap" Is the only response the grumbling man gets. 

The way down the mountain is uneventful. In the cable car the wendigo twitches and makes a little noise, so one of the men takes a syringe and doses him again with horse tranquilizers. 

"Sounds like one of those dinosaurs  outta Jurassic Park,"  
They make it to their van and loud the wendigo into the back. Shackling it into place just to be safe, they all doubt he's going to wake up anytime soon not with two doses of horse tranquilizers in him but stranger things have happened.


	2. Chapter 2

Chris shoulders his way into his shared apartment. He's got his school bag weighing down one shoulder and groceries bundled neatly in his arms. Honestly, it was a wonder he'd even gotten the door open at all. 

The apartment smells good, like homemade tomato sauce and garlic bread. His stomach growls, letting its plight known to all that will listen. 

"They were out of that weird milk you drink" Chris informs his roommate as he enters the kitchen. She' s on the fold out step stool bent over a large pot of bubbling sauce, hair tied back out of her face. "I'll run to the gas station later and see if they have any left"

"It's not weird Chris, it’s rice milk" She informs him without bothering to look up from the pot.

"Whatever you say Ash" Chris replies as he finished putting the groceries away. He moves out of their tiny kitchen and into the living room, dropping his bag on the floor before collapsing onto the couch. "What time is everyone coming over?"

"Seven. How was class?"

Chris groans loudly into the couch.

"If it's really that bad why don't you just drop it?" Ashley had moved from the stove to lean against the archway peering into the living room.

"I'm not built for physical labor apparently," Chris whines into the couch cushions.

A few weeks after everyone had been released from questioning and the hospital, Chris had signed up for a 'Survival class' offered to students that attended his University. While he highly doubted anything like what had happened on Blackwood mountain would happen again, the events of that night had awakened Chris to how terrible unprepared he was to take care of himself and his loved  ones in a dangerous situation.

The following week Ashley had moved in with him. Naturally after everything that had happened on the mountain they'd decided that it was best to remain friends. They were closer now than they had ever been before, an experience like that stuck with you brought you together with the people that you experienced it with. There was hope, maybe one day they'd become something more, but neither pushed for it too hard. They kissed occasionally, usually when one of them was having a bad day, and cuddled a lot. But it was entirely  platonic on both sides. Chris had been riddled with guilt for the first few months after. He still had nightmares, Ash did too. That's when they were closest and that wasn't something you could base a relationship on.

"You have time to take a nap before people start to show," Ash tells him gently. "Or you could shower."

"Is that the nice way to tell me I smell?" Chris asks with a soft laugh.

"Like sweat and hard work. Very manly" Ash calls as she turns and heads back into the kitchen.

Chris laughs louder this time. "Yeah okay, Ash"

He pushes himself up off the couch and wanders down the hall to their small bathroom. It's tiny and cramped, Chris barely fits in it. 

There are hints of Ashley's feminine influence all over the apartment but it’s most apparent in this tiny room. Two blue candles sit atop the toilet tank in the scent 'Fresh Sparkling Snow', they smell nice enough, though Chris is certain snow doesn't have a smell. The medicine cabinet is filled with makeup and brushed and Chris is constantly finding hair ties everywhere. The hand soap on the side of the sink faucet is 'Cucumber' scented, Ash's pink tooth brush sits besides Chris's green one in a cup that matches the bathroom decor. There is a stain on the floor rug where Ash dropped hair colorant and another on the shower curtain. The shower was filled with a multitude of products on Ashley's shelf, overflowing onto Chris's own  shelf . 

Chris couldn't complain though, Ash kept everything tidy, and she cooked for him nearly every night, and if Chris happened to use one of her soaps because it smelt nice and comforting. Well, Ash never commented. 

He turns the shower faucet on, making sure that the hot is as far as the knob will spin. They usually use the hot water sparingly because it runs out pretty quick. But Chris has had a long day, and he hasn't got as much time as Ashley believes he has to shower. He's certain when he gets out someone will have showed up early. Probably Sam or Mike, most likely Sam. 

He's stripped down to his boxer-briefs  when Ashley pops her head into the room, barely opening the door. "Sam called she'll be here in twenty and Mike wants to know why you won't answer his messages" Chris can hear her tapping her foot at him even if he can't see it. She's probably got a hand on her waist too. "You promised you wouldn't avoid him"

"I'm not," Chris glances at her over his shoulder, arching a blond brow. "I'll talk to him when he gets here" 

"You better" Ash scolds and then she's gone, bathroom door closed securely.

Chris sighs and shakes his head, stripping all the way and stepping under the hot spray of water.

* * *

The water is icy when Chris finally steps out from under the spray and wraps himself in a towel. He turns the water off and gives himself a quick dry down before reaching for his  robe . Which he left in his bedroom. With a groan he grabs Ashley's plush pink robe and wraps it around himself, it covers till mid thigh since Chris is significantly taller than Ash but it'll have to work. Stepping into the hall he can hear Ashley and Sam talking and laughing. 

"Nice legs" A voice says causing Chris to jump. He turns only to see Mike leaning against the wall by his bedroom door. 

"Jesus "

"It's Mike actually, but I can see how you'd make the mistake "

Chris scowls at the other man before pushing his bedroom door open and wandering inside. He's rummaging through his drawers trying to find his pre-approved 'people are coming over don't dress like a slob' clothing. 

"You've been avoiding me" Mike accuses stepping into Chris's room and closing the door. 

Chris doesn’t respond at first. The statement isn’t false, Chris had been avoiding Mike despite promising Ashley that he wouldn’t. 

"Do you mind?" Chris growls out, he's bent down trying to pull on a clean pair of boxer-briefs without flashing or mooning the other man. 

The dark haired man smirks "Not really" He replies with a chuckle and Chris is scowling again. "You haven't denied it"

"So what if I am avoiding you. We weren't that close anyway" As soon as the words leave his mouth he regrets them. Mike looks hurt. Genuinely hurt. Bastard.

Chris turns away, shedding the robe and pulling on a pair of jeans that aren't ripped. A hand lands on the small of his naked back and he jumps, head knocking into the open dresser drawer.

"Mike!"

"Sorry. ” Mike says quickly and withdraws his hand. “Didn't mean to startle you…”

“What do you want?” Chris snaps. He’s found a shirt he knows Ashley will approve of and is pulling on. He hasn't turned back around, eyes focused on his dresser. 

“An explanation," Mike replies. “You've been avoiding me since the mountain... ”

Chris flinches, he takes a moment before responding. “Did you even try to help him? Did you even bother? No. You saved your own ass rather than help your friend. You didn't even tell us he was in the mines till we got back! We could have saved him. After we blew the lodge. We could have gone back and saved him.”

“And been killed in the attempt!” Mike yells.

“You don't know that!” Chris shouts back.

When Chris turns around finally, Mike is a few feet away jaw working as he tries to come up with a response and fails. 

“We should have at least tried, ” Chris shoves his hands into his pockets for lack of anything better to do with them. “Your dumb joke got his sisters killed and then we left him alone in that shed when he could have really used our help.”

“Are you forgetting what he did to you? What he did to Sam? Chris you weren’t even involved in the prank. Why’d he involve you at all? There was obviously a lot more going on than just getting revenge for an old prank”

“That’s not the point. He needed our help and we abandoned him”

* * *

When Josh wakes again he knows he is nowhere near his mountain. He can feel it within every fiber of his being. No one has to tell him, not that anyone would have. He yearns to go back, it's a twisted feeling in the pit of his belly, he wants to be back on his mountain, back in his cave. 

Josh chirps his displeasure.

When Josh wakes he still can't move, his long limbs won't obey him. So Josh lays where the men who stole him off his mountain have left him. 

It's a dark room, the floor is soft - cushioned-, there is a single door with a little window that's covered by bars, and there aren't any other windows about the room. Although Josh can't see the back wall from where he lay. 

Josh's torn cheek pressed into the floor painfully and it takes most of Josh's strength and a majority of sheer will to get himself up into a sitting position. It also takes a near half hour. 

The door at the front of the room opens and three people step in. Instinct tells Josh he's in danger and with a surge of adrenaline he growls and lurches forward. He finally becomes aware of the weight at his back as it rattles and pulls taunt. The sudden stop to his motion causes Josh to falter, the foot he's managed to get underneath him and he crashes to the floor where he writhes and snarls. Saliva drips from his mouth onto the floor where his face is once again pressed. 

"Does he really need to be chained up like this?" A soft voice asks.

"We've already discussed this Melinda" This voice is sharper like the men that took Josh from his mountain. He doesn't like it.

"Robert" The soft one sighs. They sound upset and Josh is compelled to comfort them. 

He trills at them quietly. It doesn't seem to help the soft voiced person only seems to become more distressed. 

"Mrs. Washington I assure you Josh will get the absolute best care" A new voice speaks and Josh doesn't like this one either. It makes the other two uncomfortable, Josh can feel it. 

He pushes himself up again, carefully watches the three forms with nearly sightless eyes. He sits, back straight, his arms pulled back behind him connected to his chains. He chirps and trills in succession, he head falls to the side as he tries to find a better angle to see these figures.

One steps forward, crouches before him just out of reach. It's a woman, one he recognizes but can't place. She reminds him of Hannah. 

"Oh Josh" She says quietly, reaches up to touch his face. 

Something in Josh snaps and he lunges forwards at her, he's hungry. So very hungry. He growls and hisses, pulling at his chains. 

The women  yelps in shock and then she's being pull back by the two other figures. One of them his shouting but Josh doesn’t understand anything they’re saying. Two more men dressed in white enter the room at a brisk pace, they’re on either side of Josh and he can’t decide which one he should be focusing on. He growls and hisses at them, scooting back and away from them. His back hits the wall but the strangers advance, he snarls, lips pulling back over his sharp teeth. 

“It’s time to leave young Joshua alone” Someone is saying and the three original people slowly back out of the room. “We’ll contact you as soon as we make some progress with his treatment.”

The two remaining figures loom over Josh as the door slams shut with a loud deafening bang.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll be traveling this week so this will be the only update till Friday at the earliest. 
> 
> Comments, Kudos and Bookmarks are much appreciated.

**Author's Note:**

> Why does Josh sound like a dinosaur from Jurassic Park?
> 
> To be very specific I imagine his vocalizations to be like that of the Raptors in Jurassic Park. When I was younger I was absolutely terrified of the raptors in Jurassic Park, I was perfectly fine with all the other dinosaurs, with the people being eaten, but the raptors scared the crap out of me. Especially in the first movie.
> 
> So Josh kinda sounds like a raptor.
> 
> Comment with some of your own headcanons~


End file.
